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Paraguay

A decade of sustained economic growth has substantially reduced overall poverty in Paraguay. But inequality is on the rise. This is mainly due to a regressive tax system that affects low-income households disproportionately, and to inadequate social spending.

The mechanization of agriculture – a major contributor to the country's economic boom – has led to a loss of livelihoods and driven large numbers of people to urban areas, where they live in precarious conditions.

In 2014, IDLO began working with the Paraguayan Ministry of Justice to strengthen free legal advice services in one of the sprawling shanty towns in the capital, Asunción.

To mark International Women’s Day, IDLO would like to celebrate the work of Dr. Alicia Beatriz Pucheta, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, President of the Criminal Chamber of Paraguay, and Minister in Charge of the Human Rights Directorate and of the Gender Secretary of the Supreme Court.

More than thirty representatives of civil society, human rights groups and international organizations attended an IDLO conference in Colombia, this week, on strengthening and expanding legal services available to people living with HIV and other key population groups in Latin America.

Paraguay’s first ‘House of Justice’ has opened in the north-eastern department of Concepción -- the first step in a national effort to provide free legal services and easy-access dispute resolution to vulnerable communities.

Experts from nine countries have gathered in Lima, Peru to create a regional access-to-justice model for vulnerable groups. Held over the three days to May 28, the meeting is the first step in a process facilitated by IDLO under the EU-sponsored EUROsociAL II program.

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Key Initiatives

Paraguay is both a point of origin and transit for human trafficking, especially of women. Children and indigenous groups are also extremely vulnerable. Most of the victims are trafficked to Argentina, Spain and Bolivia. This crime particularly affects populations living in situations of violence, discrimination or poverty. In collaboration with the Paraguayan government and other partners, IDLO has worked on criminal law and justice enforcement in the country, as well as legal protection for victims.

IDLO is working with the disadvantaged in Paraguay under the European Union’s EUROsociAL program, supporting the provision of free legal advice to residents in one of Asunción's poorest neighborhoods. This is the first step towards strengthening access to rights and justice for deprived communities in the country in line with the Brasilia Regulations on Access to Justice. The project being is being implemented in collaboration with the Paraguayan Ministry of Justice.